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(No Model.)

A. LEVETT.

BUFFING 0R POLISHING WHEEL- No. 269,688. Patented Dec. 26, 1882.

WITNESSES INVBNTOR a film; f wda M ATTORNEY 'NIIED STATES ATENT ALEXANDER LEVETT, OF NEIV YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE ZUCKER 8: LEVETT CHEMICAL COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

BUFFlNG OR POLISHING WHEEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 269,688, dated December 26, 1882,

Application tiled January 20, 1882.

lowing to be a full, clear, and exact descrip-,

tion of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, and of its mode or manner of operation, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification.

My invention relates to yielding buffing or polishing wheels, such as are usually made of cloth, leather, and other fibrous yielding ma terial. As such wheels are now generally made, materials of the proper thickness are placed together and stamped or cut outof the size and shape of the wheel required and caught together, or fastened in other ways. A hole is then punched in the center, and the wheel is fastened between the flanges or washers, or in some other manner fastened upon the spindle of the machine. In the manufacture ofsuchwheels it is important to cut the material in such a manner as to incur as little waste as possible, as the cost ofthe material is the greatest item of the expense of producing the wheels. Another mode of forming polishing-wheels is to form the same ofirr'egular scraps or fragments of yielding material fastened together in suitable manner, and various forms of devices of this kind are now the subject of pending applications.

()ne of the chief objections to wheels constructed as first above described is that the materials of which they are composed are not on all sides of the same degree of strength, and the wheel cut out of them wears away at some places much more rapidly than at others, the result of which is that the wheel wears unevenly and becomes angular after comparatively little use. and is therefore very unsatisfactory for work.

The object of my invention is to make a buffer which shall be practically of an even degree of strength around the entire circumference, and which can be made cheaper than (No model.)

wheels for model pieces of material ofthe shape of the wheel.

-1n the drawings I show my invention applied to a largehufling-wheel. Figure 1 shows a piece of material laid out in patterns to which the same is to be cut, and Fig. 2 shows a wheel made of such patterns.

fiimilarlettersofreferenceindicatelike parts. I take the material of which the wheel is to be made and cut it into sections or sectors, as shown in Fig. 1. These sectors are of such shape that whena number of them are properly placed they may be formed into what is substantially a complete wheel. In this figure the several parts a maybe out again across the middle and made of the size I), or they maybe folded upon themselves or around the annular part I, as shown at a, Fig. 2. The parts 0 c are shown disposed in Fig. 2, so that none of the material is wasted. In this example of the invention I show the sectors attached to a rounded sheet of material, I, out of which the sections gg have been out, having a hole in the center, through which the splndleis to pass. Around the annular circumference of thepiece I the sectors are disposed and fastened. One of such sectors a is shown riveted to this ring at a. The pieces a are shown folded around the ring and caught at a with a wire fastener. b b are shown fastened with rivets, and so,likewise,are the pieces 0 c. A convenient way of attaching the sectors in position would be to take two round pieces of metal of needed to hold the parts together will be supplied by sewing a piece of material on the outside, as stated, or running a row of stitching around the centralpara'for when the wheel is placed on the spindle and tightened up between the flanges the pieces are held firmly together thereby.

I do not limit myself to fastening the sectors together or around the center in any particular manner, as they may be fastened in a variety of ways, as will suggest themselves to any one familiar with the art.

When the parts have all been attached the wheel may be rounded in any convenient manner, and is used in the same way as the wheels now made, being fastened on the spindle between washers or flanges in the usual way. By this arrangement and construction I am able to make a wheel which will be substantially of equal strength around its entire circumference, for it is apparent that the outer circumferential edge of each piece cuts on the same line of the material, and in the example shown in the drawings is parallel to the sides of the material, and the fibers of all the sectors are disposed to present portions ofthe material which are of equal strength to the entire operating-surface ot' the wheel, while it the wheel had been cut from material in the usual manner its circumferential edge would be of unequal strength. This will be readily seen by taking a disk of muslin and holding it so that one set of threads is perpendicular. At the top and bottom ot'the disk, where the perpendicular threads are the longest, the horizontal threads crossing them are the shortest. The same is true of the horizontal threads. here they are longest the perpendicular threads crossing them are shortest. Now, these short threads ravel and pull out quickly in use, while those sections of the edge where both the horizontal and perpendicular threads are long,or of about equal length, wear much better, thus producing an uneven degree of strength on the circumference.

It is evident that if all the sectors are cut from the material as above described-that is, having all the fibers in all the sectors running in the same directionthen the wheel will be of equal strength around the entire periphery, and l pieler the wheel made in this manner; but I do not limit myself to this construction, for when the material is of such character that sectors having the fibers disposed ditt rently are equal in strength with such sectors as have all the fiber s similarly disposed, sectors of both kinds may be used indifi'erently in building up the wheel, the object being to tnake the wheel of equal strength around its entire circumference. l

Another advantage of cutting the material into the form ofsectors instead of into the form of thecomplete wheel is economy, as no part of the material is wasted, as would be the case if the wheels were made out of material cut in round pieces, in which case both the central part and a large portion of the material between the round pieces to form the wheel would be cut to waste. \Vheels made from sectors may be also made from cuttings.

I do not limit myself to any particular number of pieces to compose the wheel, nor to any particular shape of the different sectors, as these may be varied without departing from the invention. So,also,the pieces need not be cut parallel to the sides or ends of the material, but may be cut at any desired angle, so as to have the threads in thepieces of material running bias. There would be great uniformity of strength throughoutthe sectors if out from bias material.

I am aware that it is not new to make a wheel of pieces of leather glued together in a groove around the central part. Such device is shown in Letters Patent No. 53,825. In such an arrangement, however, the pieces of which the wheel was composed were inclined toward the periphery of the wheel,and therefore presented substantially the side of the leather as the operating-surface. A wheel could not be made according to that disposition of its parts to present the end grain of the leather to the surface of the wheel unless the pieces be first reduced to wedge shape.

I am also aware that griudstones and wooden wheels have been made of sections ofstone and of wood solid across the face of the wheel and disposed around acentral part. I do not claim any such structures; nor do I claim broadly in this application a butting or polishing device composed of a pile of pieces or scraps of yielding material united together and adapted to be carried by a central spindle.

What I do claim is- A butting or polishing wheel of textile fabric, composed of sectors, the fibers of all the sectors disposed substantially as described, whereby portions of the material which are of substantially equal strength are presented to the entire operating-surface of the wheel.

- ALEXANDER LEVET'I.

W'itnesses:

AUGUSTUS '1. GURLITZ, JOHN H. STEENWER'IH. 

